1 . Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to lid closures for containers and methods of making and using the lid closure, and more particularly to a molded plastic lid closure having one or more compartments for holding one or more fluent materials to be dispensed into the container by a consumer and methods of making and using the same.
2 . Description of the Prior Art
Plastic lid closures for sealing beverage containers, such as containers purchased by consumers at so-called “fast-food” restaurants and “convenience” stores are well known in the art. It has also been heretofore proposed to provide pockets or compartments in molded plastic lid closures that contain fluent materials, such as powdered cream or sugar, for use by a consumer to dispense into a container of a beverage tea or coffee to which the lid closure is secured. One such proposed lid closure is described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,326,363 to Bennett et al. The lid closure described in the Bennett et al. patent is molded of a polystyrene plastic material with a generally U-shaped annular lip for engaging the rim of a paper or plastic container. The molded lid is provided with a plurality of pockets that are closed and sealed on the underside of the lid by a circular sealing sheet of a tearable metal foil or plastic film. The lid is further provided with a pair of triangular bottom wall sections that are designed to tear the circular sealing sheet on the underside of the lid when pressure is applied by a consumer to the top of the lid at one of the pockets.
The operability of the Bennett et al. lid closure is dependent upon the effectiveness of the triangular bottom wall sections of the lid to create linear tears in the circular sealing sheet closing the bottoms of the pockets containing the fluent material. However, the force applied to the lid to create such linear tears in the sealing sheet is likely to be so great as to cause permanent deformation of the lid or excessive inward deflection of the lid closure and possible disengagement of the lip of the lid from the container rim and spillage of the beverage in the container. In the case of hot beverages like coffee, the possibility exists that the beverage will burn a consumer's hand or fingers.
A number of other proposals for fluent material dispensing lid closures for beverage containers have been heretofore made, as exemplified by the lid closures disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,796,813 to Kurland; 4,785,931 to Weir et al.; 5,431,276 to Lialin; and 5,529,179 to Hanson. Typically, the prior art lid closures of these patents involve the application of pressure by the consumer to a pocket or compartment in the lid to release a fluent ingredient or material into the container to which the lid is attached. In the case of the patents to Weir et al. and Lialin, the lid closures are formed or provided with plungers or piercing devices for rupturing a foil or membrane forming the bottom wall of the compartments in the lid. The relative complexity of the design or molding for many of these prior art dispensing lid closures make them uneconomical to manufacture.
Accordingly, it would be desirable to provide a dispensing lid closure that has a simple shape for ease in molding and which has structure in the molded shape adapted to release the contents of one or more separate compartments containing fluent materials by puncturing a thin film layer of metal foil or plastic closing the compartments.